West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-04-15
A SPOOL OF THREAD.
What Cotton Goes Through Before it
Reaches the Needle.
Washington Star.

Washington Star.
Few people ever stop to think of
the twlstlngs and turnngs and the
various processes that cotton fiber
goes through after it is taken from
the pod before it is wound up on
spool and ready for the housewives
needle. The whole story is told,
however, in small space in one of
the cases in the hall in the National
Museum given up to an exhibition
of textile fabrics. This is one of
the many object lessons in the mu
scum, which, combined, are intended
to tell the story of man as he exists
on the earth. First is shown a spe
cimen Of cotton IN the pod, just sit
is picked, without having the seed
removed. Next is shown specimen
of the same cotton after it has been
ginned and the black seeds have
been removed. The Sea Island cot
ton is used for thread on account Of
the length of the fiber. A sample of
the sacking in which the cotton is
baled is also shown. Then the cot
ton is supposed to have been baled
and shipped to the thread factory.
Here the first thing that is done
with the cotton is to subject it to the
picker" process, by which the cot
ton from several bales is mixed to
secure uniformity. During the
picker process much waste, in the
form of dust, dirt and short fibers,
are separated from the good fibers
by the picker. Next the "picked"
cotton is wound on machine, in
sheets or laps, into roll. The next
process illustrated by a practical
exhibit is the carding by which the
sheets of cotton are combed or run
out into long parallel iibers. The
cotton is next seen drawn through
trumpet-shaped opening, which
condenses it into a single strand or
"sliver." Then eight such slivers
are run together into one, six Of the
strands thus produced are drawn
into one, and again six of the
strands from the last drawing are
combined into one. Then comes the
slubbing or fast rowing" process,
which consists of winding the strand
and bobbin. Two strands are twist
ed and again wound on q bobbin.
After q number of twistings and
windings,d during whiehe.he strand is
gradually reduced in size, until it
begins to assume q threadIike ap-
pearance, two strands Of this fine
growing" are run together and twist
ed. under considerable tension, on q
bobbin that makes 1000 revolutions
a minute. Two Of the cords thus
produced are then wound together
on a spool, aud then twisted from
that to another spool. The two
cord thread thus produced is trans
ferrei thence to another spool, and
then three threads Of two cords each
are twisted together, forming six
cord thread. One who has followed
the process sees the cotton gradual
ly transformed from wide band or
sheet of loose cotton to compact
thread that viii pass through the
eve of a needle. The six-cord thread
is at last taken from ii bobbin and
reeled into a skeiD, in which form it
is bleached or dyed. Then it is
wound back upon the skein upon
big spool, from which it is sup
piled to little white birch spools
from which it is wound in regular
courses, and is then ready for the
market. The machine that regulates
the last winding measures the num-
Der Of yards wound on each spool.
The spools are e-made of various sizes
to hold from 200 to 10000 yards of
thread. The labels that decorate
the end of the spools when they are
sold are last put on. They are cut
and pasted on by machinery with
great rapidity.